Three Countries Classified as WHO-Listed Authorities

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Singapore; the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), Republic of Korea; and the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products (Swissmedic), Switzerland are the first three countries to be listed as WHO-Listed Authorities. 

A WHO-listed authority (WLA) is a regulatory authority or a regional regulatory system that has been documented as complying with all the indicators and requirements specified by the WHO for the requested scope of listing based on an established benchmarking and performance evaluation process.

“This achievement is the result of investment by the Governments of the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Switzerland in the strengthening of their regulatory systems and reaffirms the collaboration between WHO and the three Governments in promoting confidence, trust, and further reliance on authorities that have attained this global recognition, through the transparent and evidence-based pathway for designating and listing of WLAs,” said Dr. Yukiko Nakatani Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products, in a press release on October 31, 2023.

Implementing the WLA framework is intended to promote access to and supply of safe, effective, and quality medical products.

It is expected that HSA, MFDS, and Swissmedic will sustain this achievement, thereby enabling greater regulatory efficiencies and more informed decision-making at the national, regional, and global levels, wrote the WHO.